Hong Kong is ready to welcome the world back, its leader said Thursday, pledging more than half a million free flights and positive publicity to resurrect the once-vibrant global hub after three years of Covid-enforced isolation.. Even as business leaders warned Hong Kong would need a full Covid exit plan before any meaningful reboot, officials insisted on gradually rolling back restrictions.
Hong Kong is ready to welcome the world back, its leader said Thursday, as he pitched free flights and positive publicity to resurrect the once-vibrant global hub after three years of Covid-enforced isolation.. Even as business leaders warned Hong Kong would need a full Covid exit plan before any meaningful reboot, officials insisted on gradually rolling back restrictions long after the rest of the world opted to live with the virus.
Shell's net profit surged to a record $42.3 billion last year, the British energy giant said Thursday, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices soaring.. The invasion a year ago of Ukraine by its neighbour Russia sent oil and gas prices rocketing.
Spanish banking giant Banco Santander reported on Thursday record profits for 2022, becoming the latest European lender to get a boost from higher interest rates.. And on Thursday Germany's largest lender, Deutsche Bank said it booked its highest annual profit since 2007 last year, thanks to higher interest rates.
Japan's leading air carriers ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines posted net profits for the nine months to December, turning around losses as domestic and international travel resume, the companies said Thursday.. ANA, the country's biggest airline, reported a net profit of 62.6 billion yen ($486 million), reversing a 102.8 billion yen loss in the same period the year before, while its rival JAL saw a 16.3 billion yen net profit, up from a loss of 128.3 billion yen.
Sony upgraded its annual net profit forecast on Thursday, saying it expects strong results in its key gaming sector as the weak yen inflates profits on products sold abroad.. In the 2022-23 financial year, Sony Group now expects net profits of 870 billion yen, up from the previous estimate of 840 billion yen.
Indian industrialist Gautam Adani was until this week Asia's richest man, with a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement and media but now he has been rocked by corporate fraud allegations and a stock crash. . Last week a bombshell report from US investment firm Hindenburg Research claimed the conglomerate had engaged in a "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades".
Under-fire Indian tycoon Gautam Adani insisted Thursday that the fundamentals of his conglomerate were "strong" even as shares in its companies plunged again after the group cancelled a multi-billion-dollar stock sale.. Adani himself issued a video statement on Thursday in which he insisted that the "fundamentals of our company are very strong, our balance sheet is healthy and assets robust".
The European Central Bank is set to hike interest rates again Thursday as it pursues its inflation fight, despite tentative signs the eurozone has weathered shocks from the Ukraine war better than feared. . Others, such as Joachim Nagel, the head of Germany's Bundesbank central bank, have backed further hikes going forward.
Most Asian markets rose Thursday and the dollar weakened further on hopes the Federal Reserve's campaign of interest rate hikes could be close to an end after it acknowledged progress in its long-running battle against inflation.. Oil prices rose in Asian trade, helped by the weaker dollar, easing concerns about the economic outlook in light of the Fed remarks and hopes for China's recovery.
